Next stop, Ottawa? The six Binghamton Senators poised to make the jump in the near future

After five solid years of drafting under general manager Bryan Murray, the Ottawa Senators are poised to reap some rewards.

They have a raft of young players in Binghamton ready to make the jump to the NHL, so coach Paul MacLean will have plenty to choose from when he assembles his team for this lockout-shortened season.

Because there’s no room for slumps in a short season, MacLean has made it clear that the open spots — one up front and as many as three on defence — won’t be filled permanently.

Players will rotated in and out depending on how they’re playing.

“They’re young and they’re going to have their ups and downs, so our job is to make sure that we recognize when one of our young players is in a down cycle, and one of them is in an up cycle,” said MacLean “Then we’ll have to get that guy up here until the other guy here gets himself sorted out.

“The luxury we have is that we have a number of really good young players that we can move back and forth often to fill those spots.”

Here’s a look at the six players, all from the Binghamton Senators roster, who are in the mix to make the jump to Ottawa this season.

JAKOB SILFVERBERG

The 22-year-old right wing brought an impressive resume to North America.

Last season in Sweden, he was the MVP of the regular season, player of the year, and the MVP of the playoffs, during which he scored 13 goals to break Daniel Alfredsson’s record of 12. The Senators have been waiting for him to arrive since they drafted him in 2009 (39th overall).

As they say in baseball, he has all the tools. He’s a smart two-way player and an excellent skater.

The question will be whether the Senators feel he has adapted to the North American game after just a brief stint in Binghamton.

He said he had some initial difficulty in adjusting to the smaller North American ice surface, which is even smaller in Binghamton, but that he’s feeling more comfortable with each game.

“You have to be so much quicker in everything you do,” he said in an interview in Binghamton. “As soon as you get the puck, you have to know what you want to do with it.”

He’s learning quickly. In 32 games, he has 13 goals and 15 assists to lead Binghamton in scoring.

It’s thought he’ll get the nod over Stone because of his experience in the Swedish Elite League.

It’s a big weight to carry, but Silfverberg is being mentioned as the natural replacement for Alfredsson. First things first: He has to make the NHL. He’s not the most physical player in the world, but the Senators didn’t draft him to be the next Chris Neil.

Two bits of trivia about Silfverberg: During the playoffs, he took over as Brynas captain following the retirement of former Senator Andreas Dackell. And during the second half of the regular season, he wore the No. 100, in honour of the franchise’s 100th anniversary.

MARK STONE

The 20-year-old right wing from Winnipeg started the 2010-11 season looking as if he’d be a top prospect in the 2010 draft, but his stock fell when he played only 28 games because of a concussion and a thumb injury. He did post a point-per-game average (11 goals and 17 assists) in those 28 games, however.

That kept him on the sidelines of the draft until the Senators picked him 178th overall — a steal, as it turned out, because he exploded from there.

In 2010-2011, he had 37 goals and 69 assists for the Brandon Wheat Kings and, in 2011-2012, he had 41 goals and 82 assists.

On a world junior team that finished third in 2012, he was the leading scorer with seven goals and three assists, and he got a point in his first NHL game — an assist on Jason Spezza’s game-winning goal in the fifth game of last spring’s playoff series against the Rangers.

So the Senators have big hopes for him.

He has started slowly in Binghamton, with six goals and seven assists in 26 games.

While he has worked diligently on his skating over the last few years, it still needs to be better. That has him behind Silfverberg in terms of readiness for the NHL.

But at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Stone is a big player with good hands — something every NHL team is looking for.

PATRICK WIERCIOCH

Since the Senators picked him in 2008, the 22-year-old defenceman from Burnaby has been talked about as a piece of the team’s future.

But until this year, he didn’t have the weight or the strength to handle NHL forwards.

Now carrying 200 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame, he has the heft to go with his offensive skills.

That has made him one of Binghamton’s top three defencemen — with Mark Borowiecki and Andre Benoit — and a prime candidate to crack the Ottawa lineup.

Wiercioch was close to making the team a couple of seasons ago, after an excellent training camp. But he just couldn’t clear the final bar.

To his credit, he’s worked extra hard, spending last summer in Ottawa to train with good friend Kyle Turris.

With teams needing to generate offence through their defenceman, the Senators need a player such as Wiercioch as a supplement to Erik Karlsson, especially with Filip Kuba gone and Sergei Gonchar in the last year of his contract.

Wiercioch has his chance.

With nine goals and nine assists in 30 games in Binghamton, he’s had a good start to his season and people are watching. Now he has to take his chance and use it.

“I think you have to make your own breaks,” he said in an interview in Binghamton. “The harder you work, the more you make people believe this is your break, that this is your time right now.”

MARK BOROWIECKI

The 23-year-old defenceman from Kanata was an afterthought in the 2008 draft, picked in the fifth round (139th overall) in 2008, three rounds after Wiercioch.

But since then, Borowiecki has carved out a reputation as one of the hardest working players in the organization. He’s taken the chance he was given and made himself into a player who is on the verge of a full-time NHL job. That determination plays well among the people who make the decisions.

“He might not be the biggest guy, but he’s the strongest guy, and that’s the way he plays,” said Binghamton coach Luke Richardson.

“He goes right through people. He plays exactly like Mike Fisher plays when he’s healthy — everything is full-out and hard.”

He’s expected to play the role opened through the departure of Matt Carkner: The tough, hard-nosed defenceman who is not afraid to stand up for his teammates. If he’s going to be any value to the team, however, he’s going to have to cut down on the number of penalties he takes.

In 24 games with Binghamton, he’s had one goal and four assists. He is plus-12, and leads the team with 96 penalty minutes. It’s not easy on a coach when one of his top three defencemen is spending this much time in the penalty box. It’s a given that his role will see Borowiecki in the penalty box from time to time, but he’ll have to learn to pick his spots.”

ANDRE BENOIT

If Andre Benoit, 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds, were three inches taller and 20 pounds heavier, he’d be a regular in the NHL.

But the 29-year-old defenceman, who is now in his second stint with the Senators, suffers because he’s undersized.

That’s a shame, because he does it all. Binghamton’s captain, Benoit skates and moves the puck well, and has a terrific offensive vision.

He’d fit in perfectly with the 200-foot, fast-paced game that MacLean likes to play.

Undrafted when he was a Kitchener Ranger, Benoit has played all over the world (Finland, Sweden, and Russia).

In 2010-11, he had 11 goals and 44 assists in 73 games for Binghamton, and this season he is the team’s second-leading scorer, with nine goals and 14 assists in 32 games.

Binghamton coach Luke Richardson would selfishly like to keep Benoit, with his ability to get the team’s offence moving, but Benoit could also very well spend some time in an Ottawa uniform this season.

ROBIN LEHNER

The 21-year-old Lehner is having an excellent season in Binghamton, with a 13-5-1 record, a goals-against average of 1.94 and a save percentage of .944.

But what’s most impressing the coaching staff is that he’s making it look easy. He’s not scrambling to make saves. Rather, he’s in position to make them. Equally impressive is his increasing maturity.

Last season, on a bad Binghamton team, was a trial for Lehner. After he led the Senators to the Calder Cup the year before, more was expected of him. But he suffered through some injuries and an indifferent attitude.

This season he came to camp lighter and in better shape and he’s been turning heads.

“During the summer, I recognized my mistakes last year,” he said in an interview in Binghamton. “So I worked hard last summer to be in better shape. I tried to learn and grow up a little bit and go forward.”

Conventional wisdom has Craig Anderson and Ben Bishop being Ottawa’s two goalies, but general manager Bryan Murray said the team has to pay attention to what Lehner is doing.

“If he plays like he is down in Binghamton, it’s going to be hard not to give him a chance to play some games.”

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